Explorations in Indian Sociolinguistics

"The book is likely to affect the direction of sociolinguistics research in India, not so much on account of the originality of its argument concerning the object and scope of sociolinguistic investigations, as on account of clearly articulating and bringing to focus the current reformist ideas on the Indian sociolinguistic scene. The present review is intended to document the influential role that the book is likely to play in the intellectual freedom of sociolinguistic studies in India.... The book presents a clear theoretical perspective on sociolinguistics in the developing world. It is essential reading in that area." --IASSI Quarterly Pushing sociolinguistics to the crisis point, Explorations in Indian Sociolinguistics provides and extends a critique of correlation paradigm research that most accept as sociolinguistics. The editors argue that all serious work in both linguistics and sociology demand that certain critical standards be met and that what normally passes for sociolinguistics does not meet the critical standards for either discipline. They maintain that sociology is about not taking social appearances for granted, while linguistics is concerned with looking at the underlying processes that "make language tick." The contributors contend that the focus of critical reexamination in linguistics and sociology should be the native speaker of a language. It is the native speaker that provides a "psychologically real" context for any scholarly effort at reexamination. A thought-provoking volume that will be of interest to those in the fields of linguistics, sociology, sociolinguistics, generative grammar, language, and literature and society.Singh, Rajendra is the author of 'Explorations in Indian Sociolinguistics' with ISBN 9780803992382 and ISBN 0803992386.